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Date: | Thu, 20 Apr 2000 00:06:15 -0600 |
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I'll have to disagree with Helmut on this. We have plenty of ponds in this
area that dry up every year, sometimes for well over a year, and yet when it
rains and they fill up, the common pond snail is back. There are some of
these ponds where I have watched this take place that are small (1 meter by
2 meters by 75-100mm deep) depressions in sandstone. They are typically dry
and our normal rains merely get them a bit damp and then the sun drys them
quickly. Yet when we get a good strong thunderstorm that hits that area
(maybe once a year or two) and fills the dpression there will be adult pond
snails in these little temporary pools within a day. There are no plants
and the closest permanent water is miles away. So I think at least some
species of mollusks have great powers of aestivation. By the way, these
small depressions are also un-shaded and the temperature gets unbelievably
hot in the summer as the sun beats down on the rock. Of course we have
other small ponds of water -- some permanent that never show any snail life
due to the high levels of arsenic and/or alkaloids and salts.
Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA (where we have had two days of very strong
winds which means tomorrow I'll be clearing tumbleweeds out of the backyard)
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